Table of Contents

Foreword -- Working group members -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Millennium Development Goals -- Executive summary -- 1 The problem -- Definition of access to essential medicines -- Overarching barriers -- Context -- Overview of major actors -- 2 Overcoming barriers to access -- Innovation -- Production -- Financing -- Prices and affordability -- Intellectual property protection -- Regional trade agreements, TRIPS-Plus, and access to medicines Data exclusivity and evergreening -- Procurement -- Regulation -- Taxation -- Distribution -- Competition -- Medicines donations -- Prescribing and dispensing -- Use of medicines in the home -- 3 Some preconditions for success -- Global preconditions -- National preconditions -- 4 Summary of recommendations and concluding remarks -- General principles -- Improving the availability of medicines -- Increasing the affordability of medicines -- Promoting the appropriate use of medicines -- Crosscutting issues -- Concluding remarks -- Appendix Access to medicines in Uganda: intersections with poverty -- Appendix Statement of dissent by representatives of the research-based pharmaceutical industry -- Appendix Summary of recommendations -- Notes -- References.

About the Author

The UN Millennium Project was commissioned by the UN Secretary-General and sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme on behalf of the UN Development Group. The report is an independent publication that reflects the views of the members of the Working Group on Access to Essential Medicines of the Task Force on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB, and Access to Essential Medicines, who contributed in their personal capacity.